Frei and Nouhou prevent loss
Defense remains strong, offense fails to pounce on chances, Sounders draw 0-0
The Sounders came into their game against Orlando City on June 24, 2023, recovering from a 1-0 loss on June 21 to LAFC. The team looked to improve its offense in the wake of going scoreless in three of the last four games.
However, the team also went into this game without forward Raul Ruidíaz, who had flown home to see his family after his father’s passing, and without forward Jordan Morris and midfielder Cristian Roldán, who are on the US National team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
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The Sounders attacked right out of the gate, immediately creating an opportunity. In the first minute, Héber got into the box and fired a shot which was deflected by Orlando goalie Pedro Gallese, leading to a corner kick setting up a shot by midfielder Nico Lodeiro which careened off the crosshair and back to midfield.
However, after the Sounders missed these first opportunities, their play in the box began to slip up in the following minutes. Luckily for Seattle, Orlando’s attempts during this time either flamed out or found Stefan Frei’s gloves. Both teams had free kicks just outside their opponents’ penalty box in the middle of the first half, but both fizzled before anything happened.
In the late first half, both teams’ offenses were thwarted by the opposing goalie, a diving save by Stefan Frei off a 35th minute Orlando corner kick being followed up with a Gallese dive to prevent a Lodeiro goal in the 38th minute. Another chance for Seattle a few minutes later once again fell short. Orlando had a final push at the end of the half which reached the Sounders box, but Sounders defender Nouhou first kept it out of the net and then knocked away the ensuing corner kick, keeping Orlando off the board heading into half.
A similar story played out in the second half. Seattle came out swinging in the first few minutes, starting with a Lodeiro free kick in the 48th minute that Gallese gobbled up, followed by the team regrouping and setting up a shot by midfielder Albert Rusnák that missed wide, another Lodeiro kick that skimmed over the top of the netting, and a Rusnák shot that Gallese parried away. The Sounders kept attacking, but Orlando weathered the storm for the next few minutes until the Sounders’ attack ran out of momentum.
The Sounders failed to generate such a sustained offensive onslaught for the rest of the game, but Orlando’s threats also didn’t materialize into goals. The most dangerous of these were an attack in the 76th minute that Orlando brought towards the Seattle goal, but Frei parried, and Orlando then booted high, and an 89th minute shot by Orlando midfielder Facundo Torres that went inches right of the right post. The game ended with the score locked just where it started, 0-0.
Head coach Brian Schmetzer attributed the lack of scoring to inconsistent decision-making and finishing.
“The little spells that we have of giving balls away, and then we have to defend again, and then we give it away, and defend again, I think that catches up to us sometimes,” he stated. “There were times when, you know, [Leo] Chú would stop and come back out, and we’d sustain possessions. There were other times where he’d try to dribble through three guys and lost it [the ball], so just some little decision-making things.”
Schmetzer also said that the coaching staff is getting feedback from the players on their decision-making and trying to upgrade their decision-making after every game.
“My message is always ‘did you see this pass over here when you tried to force a ball over here?’ It’s always a learning moment for me. We can’t micromanage players’ decisions, so what we work on is their cognitive vision and their decision-making by asking them a question,” he said. “And so, they learn, and they watch the film, and we try and make them better.”
Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas noted that the offense’s slump has put extra pressure on the defense.
“Because we know we can’t score, we have to keep the shutout, you know. It adds a little bit of pressure, because with guys in front having a tough time scoring, if we mess up in the back it’s probably going to end up in a loss,” he said. “We always try harder in defense, run the extra step, the extra sacrifice, because you know if you don’t, it ends up in our back of the net, and it’s even harder to score.”
He also pointed out the team’s loose attitude in training and said that more effort there would be necessary to get the offense going.
“I think the way to get out of it is in training, we have to try and score goals like we would in a game. Sometimes in training, we mess around, or we joke around, and we’re not sharp. Probably shows in the game, why we can’t score. I think now, everyone’s focused, and in training, we’ll be sharp and focused, when we’re doing shooting drills especially. We need those goals; we need to win games.”
Despite the Sounders’ recent struggles, they are still third in the Western Conference with an 8-7-5 record and 29 points, but they have played more games than both St. Louis and LAFC, the two teams ahead of them.
The Sounders’ next game is at home on July 1st at 7:30 PM against the Houston Dynamo, who are just two points behind Seattle in the standings.
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